A Few Thoughts About the Dolphins Game, in no particular order

[Billsfan1972]

15 hours ago, Virgil said:

I don’t know that.  But our defense overall played well minus the one deep pass to Waddle 

They were barely on the field and Miami converted 3 Redzone possessions.  I'd say they were okay (considering the injuries).

 

Miami had no interest in even getting a first down their last possession. 

 

And yes the 42 yard pass to Waddle was a backbreaker.

 

So Allen makes one terrible pass and he's to blame, but the Defense get's a pass?  Even after the pass, a stop and all is okay.

[Virgil]

57 minutes ago, Billsfan1972 said:

They were barely on the field and Miami converted 3 Redzone possessions.  I'd say they were okay (considering the injuries).

 

Miami had no interest in even getting a first down their last possession. 

 

And yes the 42 yard pass to Waddle was a backbreaker.

 

So Allen makes one terrible pass and he's to blame, but the Defense get's a pass?  Even after the pass, a stop and all is okay.

No quarterback, no matter what they did in the game, should get a pass for that play.   There’s no excuse to miss that throw.  Sometimes, yes, a play matters that much.  That’s what they make millions to do.  Every QB will tell you they need to make that pass, even if they are injured.  
 

Is he to blame for them losing the game?  No. Could he have won the game with that pass, yes.  So he owns a lot.  He is in control of the offense that scored 3 points in the second half.  
 

Let me put it to you this way, name a player or play that cost us more?

 

I would put Milano’s drop second, but there was still a lot of time left.  
 

I’ll say;

 

1 - Josh moss to McK

2 - Bass missed short FG

3 - Milano dropped pick 6

 

Those were all game changers and had zero influence from injuries or backups.  
 

 

[ngbills]

McK catches the ball with 13 seconds on the game clock. He doesn't go straight up field and get down. He cant get out of bounds. Bills cant get a play off. Game over.

 

KC has the ball kicked to them. Pass play for 19 yards. Pass play for 25 yards. FG to tie. 

 

Same 13 seconds. We could not finish a single play and get back to line to spike ball.

[Turbo44]

18 minutes ago, Virgil said:

No quarterback, no matter what they did in the game, should get a pass for that play.   There’s no excuse to miss that throw.  Sometimes, yes, a play matters that much.  That’s what they make millions to do.  Every QB will tell you they need to make that pass, even if they are injured.  
 

Is he to blame for them losing the game?  No. Could he have won the game with that pass, yes.  So he owns a lot.  He is in control of the offense that scored 3 points in the second half.  
 

Let me put it to you this way, name a player or play that cost us more?

 

I would put Milano’s drop second, but there was still a lot of time left.  
 

I’ll say;

 

1 - Josh moss to McK

2 - Bass missed short FG

3 - Milano dropped pick 6

 

Those were all game changers and had zero influence from injuries or backups.  
 

 

Bass's kick was tipped/blocked - blame the blocking not the kicker

[Nihilarian]

54 minutes ago, mannc said:

I was not there yesterday, but I understand that the conditions in Miami weren’t out of the ordinary for South Florida in September. I can remember plenty of other early-season Bills games in Miami where heat was a serious factor.  Why not just play the first game of the series in Buffalo every year? Or start the game at 4:30 instead of 1:00?

I can recall seeing those late 80's, early 90's Buffalo Bills go down to Miami in that stifling heat and outplay the Dolphins players. Those phins players would be heavily panting with their hand on their hips and Buffalo would be killing them with the hurry up offense!

 

Marv used to say "when its to tough for them, its just right for us!" Good ole Bills trainer Rusty Jones and his conditioning techniques. 

 

Anyway, Buffalo had time of possession for 40:40 vs 19:20. With 63 offensive pass attempts the Buffalo offensive skill players were gassed from running all over while being on the field so much in that heat, QB too.  

 

 

Fun fact, Drew Bledsoe did have 70 pass attempts in a 1994 game against Minnesota. 70 is the most ever in the NFL. 

[Turbo44]

14 minutes ago, ngbills said:

McK catches the ball with 13 seconds on the game clock. He doesn't go straight up field and get down. He cant get out of bounds. Bills cant get a play off. Game over.

 

KC has the ball kicked to them. Pass play for 19 yards. Pass play for 25 yards. FG to tie. 

 

Same 13 seconds. We could not finish a single play and get back to line to spike ball.

ughhh...KC had 2 timeouts left and used them both.  Buffalo had no timeouts left and McNasty could have run to the sideline (watch the replay), but chose to cut it upfield into the tacklers.

[Big Turk]

Was I alone in thinking the Bills would have been better off needing a TD to win starting around midfield or even on the Miami side of the field if he got a rushed punt off rather than having a safety followed by him being able to bomb a punt with no pressure and the Bills starting at their own 25 needing a FG?

 

Would have likely allowed Allen to take several shots to the endzone

 

6 minutes ago, Turbo44 said:

ughhh...KC had 2 timeouts left and used them both.  Buffalo had no timeouts left and McNasty could have run to the sideline (watch the replay), but chose to cut it upfield into the tacklers.

 

Do you know by rule that a player must be moving forward when going out of bounds to have the clock stopped?

 

There was a high probability McKenzie would have been moving backwards or at best sideways which meant the clock would have kept running even if he went OOB.

 

I think a lot of people need to brush up on rules that don't frequently come into play but have happened enough time over the years watching games that they should be familiar with them.

 

Edited September 26, 2022 by Big Turk

[mannc]

34 minutes ago, Nihilarian said:

I can recall seeing those late 80's, early 90's Buffalo Bills go down to Miami in that stifling heat and outplay the Dolphins players. Those phins players would be heavily panting with their hand on their hips and Buffalo would be killing them with the hurry up offense!

 

Marv used to say "when its to tough for them, its just right for us!" Good ole Bills trainer Rusty Jones and his conditioning techniques. 

 

Anyway, Buffalo had time of possession for 40:40 vs 19:20. With 63 offensive pass attempts the Buffalo offensive skill players were gassed from running all over while being on the field so much in that heat, QB too.  

 

 

Fun fact, Drew Bledsoe did have 70 pass attempts in a 1994 game against Minnesota. 70 is the most ever in the NFL. 

Funny, all I remember is Bills teams struggling mightily in early season games in Miami--and once or twice in Tampa. 

[Billsfan1972]

29 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

Was I alone in thinking the Bills would have been better off needing a TD to win starting around midfield or even on the Miami side of the field if he got a rushed punt off rather than having a safety followed by him being able to bomb a punt with no pressure and the Bills starting at their own 25 needing a FG?

 

Would have likely allowed Allen to take several shots to the endzone

 

 

Do you know by rule that a player must be moving forward when going out of bounds to have the clock stopped?

 

There was a high probability McKenzie would have been moving backwards or at best sideways which meant the clock would have kept running even if he went OOB.

 

I think a lot of people need to brush up on rules that don't frequently come into play but have happened enough time over the years watching games that they should be familiar with them.

 

Yes.....  Much rather have gotten the ball at midfield and need a TD.  Regardless, Mackenzie needed to go straight forward and get down.  Bass has we've been told a 60 yard leg.     

 

Oh and the hold to take them out of FG range didn't help in a game where few penalties were called.  I won't bother checking to see how egregious it was.

[Big Turk]

14 minutes ago, Billsfan1972 said:

Yes.....  Much rather have gotten the ball at midfield and need a TD.  Regardless, Mackenzie needed to go straight forward and get down.  Bass has we've been told a 60 yard leg.     

 

Oh and the hold to take them out of FG range didn't help in a game where few penalties were called.  I won't bother checking to see how egregious it was.

 

It was egregious...I remember watching it in real time thinking that had to be a hold...he got beat bad and basically reached around from behind and pulled him backwards where the defender ended up going down to one knee from it like he was being horsecollared almost.

Edited September 26, 2022 by Big Turk

[Virgil]

1 hour ago, Turbo44 said:

Bass's kick was tipped/blocked - blame the blocking not the kicker

Was that confirmed?

[Maine-iac]

I'm still of the mindset we missed Poyer and Hyde most of all.  Rewatching "highlights" and Waddle doesn't catch multiple deep passes and Edmunds doesn't run over a safety if Poyer is in there.    Also realized (and was mentioned already) we had two touchdowns by the beginning of the second quarter and ran probably 60 ish plays after that and only scored 3 more points.  Both our tackles literally got taken to the cleaners in the first couple of drives one resulted in a fumble and the other we overcame but both were pretty ugly.

[HappyDays]

3 hours ago, Virgil said:

Those were all game changers and had zero influence from injuries or backups.  

 

I was just thinking about how this game was really NOT lost by the backups, it was lost by the starters.

 

1) Missed Allen TD throw to McKenzie

2) Dropped Davis TD

3) Dropped Milano pick six

4) Spencer Brown abused by Melvin Ingram

5) Singletary and Dawkins both whiffing on a block on the fumble on the 2nd drive

6) Singletary to my eyes missed a couple cutback lanes in the run game

7) Von Miller was invisible pretty much the whole game

 

The backups, especially the safeties, made some mistakes but that was to be expected. We needed our starters to step up and make plays to bridge that talent gap and they couldn't get it done.

 

Edited September 26, 2022 by HappyDays

[Virgil]

10 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

I was just thinking about how this game was really NOT lost by the backups, it was lost by the starters.

 

1) Missed Allen TD throw to McKenzie

2) Dropped Davis TD

3) Dropped Milano pick six

4) Spencer Brown abused by Melvin Ingram

5) Singletary and Dawkins both whiffing on a block on the fumble on the 2nd drive

6) Singletary to my eyes missed a couple cutback lanes in the run game

7) Von Miller was invisible pretty much the whole game

 

The backups, especially the safeties, made some mistakes but that was to be expected. We needed our starters to step up and make plays to bridge that talent gap and they couldn't get it done.

 

Careful, not blaming the injuries, heat, or calling out the vets will get you in trouble 

[Big Turk]

Was it just me or did we not see very many RPO's yesterday?

[HappyDays]

Just now, Virgil said:

Careful, not blaming the injuries, heat, or calling out the vets will get you in trouble 

 

So I do think you were a little harsh in your post but if people can't handle some negativity after a loss they shouldn't come here after a loss... I've always found the discussion here to be the best way to decompress and get over a bad loss. Like many losses in the last couple years we just needed one core player to make one more play.

 

Where I feel you were especially harsh is with Allen's play, although admittedly I am and always have been a Bills QB homer. Allen made several exceptional plays in this game and most other core starters didn't even make one. In a game with around 70 called pass plays in the extreme heat with starters coming in and out of the lineup it is unrealistic to expect the QB to be perfect. The timing of his 4th down miss was obviously very unfortunate and it rises above a simple missed throw because of when it happened. But in context with the rest of his game he was the least of the offense's problems, and in fact he is the only reason we were able to move the ball at all. I believe Allen is one of the most clutch QBs in the game. If falling apart at the end of close games was a recurring them I'd be more concerned.

[BillsfaninSB]

18 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

I was just thinking about how this game was really NOT lost by the backups, it was lost by the starters.

 

1) Missed Allen TD throw to McKenzie

2) Dropped Davis TD

3) Dropped Milano pick six

4) Spencer Brown abused by Melvin Ingram

5) Singletary and Dawkins both whiffing on a block on the fumble on the 2nd drive

6) Singletary to my eyes missed a couple cutback lanes in the run game

7) Von Miller was invisible pretty much the whole game

 

The backups, especially the safeties, made some mistakes but that was to be expected. We needed our starters to step up and make plays to bridge that talent gap and they couldn't get it done.

 

And the Bass missed FG.

 

My heart sunk after that miss.   Felt the Bills were not going to win after that. 

[Nihilarian]

29 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

So I do think you were a little harsh in your post but if people can't handle some negativity after a loss they shouldn't come here after a loss... I've always found the discussion here to be the best way to decompress and get over a bad loss. Like many losses in the last couple years we just needed one core player to make one more play.

 

Where I feel you were especially harsh is with Allen's play, although admittedly I am and always have been a Bills QB homer. Allen made several exceptional plays in this game and most other core starters didn't even make one. In a game with around 70 called pass plays in the extreme heat with starters coming in and out of the lineup it is unrealistic to expect the QB to be perfect. The timing of his 4th down miss was obviously very unfortunate and it rises above a simple missed throw because of when it happened. But in context with the rest of his game he was the least of the offense's problems, and in fact he is the only reason we were able to move the ball at all. I believe Allen is one of the most clutch QBs in the game. If falling apart at the end of close games was a recurring them I'd be more concerned.

Agree with the whole post!

 

Take QB Josh Allen out of the equation and what kind of a team do you have? A bad team with a decent defense that would be worn out every game by being on the field so often. 

 

Clearly the Buffalo Bills can't run and don't even really much try besides the QB.  Allen being their leading rusher the last two games. This needs to change.

 

Any one of a half dozen things go the Bills way and they win that game. 

[flmike]

Virgil, I love your writeups, but this is not your best overall take. By halftime, half of our team is from the practice squad. Short week, down some really excellent players, and an obvious climate challenge (same as the fins will have in December). Some mistakes that could have turned things shows that we have good depth and almost took one from a confident team at home with some good players. I agree that Miami is kind of the like the Bills were some years ago. They will go 4-0 and then start the tumble. 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

On 9/25/2022 at 5:26 PM, UKBillFan said:

 

It's a mentality issue which needs to be worked on. And that's across the franchise, for which Josh is part of. He made an error he shouldn't have made in a key siutuation, plus could have easily been intercepted four times.  He's played better, he'll play better, but when the pressure is on, in one score games, the choke seems to follow across the board. That needs to be sorted.

I think as the streak goes on of winning every game by two scores it’s becoming clear that when we have an off game josh is good enough to keep us in it.  He missed one throw sure but we had no business being in that game.  Our offensive line was getting obliterated which would’ve led to way more three and outs/opportunities for Miami to drive on our defense if josh wasn’t playing out of his mind.  That should’ve been a lopsided loss and we lost by 2 points…and at the same time were holding it against josh for losing a one score game?  Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. 
 

hard to blame one guy for missing a throw with an injured hand and after everything he went through that game when bass missed a short fg and Milano dropped a pick six and gabe couldn’t hang onto that perfectly thrown pass in the end zone and so on 

Edited September 26, 2022 by Generic_Bills_Fan